Burden of three floods too much for Laird to bear

Thursday

Aug 2, 2007 at 12:20 AMAug 2, 2007 at 12:58 AM

Nine deaths, $225 million in damage to 6,300 properties. Now you can add 375 high-paying manufacturing jobs to the list of casualties wrought by the three fierce floods that socked the areas along the Delaware River.

DAN BERRETT

Nine deaths. More than $225 million in damage. Over 6,300 property claims closed.

Now you can add 375 high-paying manufacturing jobs to the list of casualties wrought, in part, by the three recent major floods that socked the areas along the Delaware River.

While global economic trends — such as consolidating operations and hiring less expensive workers — played a major role in the decision to close Laird Technologies in Delaware Water Gap, so did the flooding.

"I wasn't given a ranking of the reasons," said Michele Kinman, a spokeswoman for Laird. "I can tell you that the threat of flooding posed a risk that we could not take — for the shareholders or our customers."

In a letter to Delaware Water Gap Mayor Walter Conway, Laird explained that the facility was closing and cited both the ongoing risk of flooding damage and global competition as the reasons for its decision.

"I think the cheap labor is one aspect," Conway said. But he also noted that the company had tried twice previously to outsource its labor before returning to the Poconos because it could better ensure quality control here.

Laird's closing is likely to add force to arguments over the Delaware River basin's 13 reservoirs. Conway has championed the idea that the reservoirs are ill-managed and poorly equipped to respond when heavy rains soak the area.

In June, he traveled to Harrisburg with Portland Mayor Kay Bucci, and Diane Tharp, whose house is on the river's banks, to press the point in front of the House Veterans Affairs and Emergency Preparedness Committee.

He held his cell phone in the air, explaining how Laird manufactured the shielding device inside it, and how vital the company was to his borough's $300,000 budget.

"We're not looking at the economic impact that these floods have had," he told the representatives.

Those floods exacted a steep price on Laird.

Laird was shut out of its space for days and its operations stalled for longer after the floods of September 2004 and April 2005. The company then spent more than $800,000 fortifying the levee around the factory, which held back the flood waters in June 2006 with less than a foot to spare.

"They didn't want to have to go through another situation like that," said Dennis Noonan, economic development specialist for Pocono Mountains Industries.

The state offered $250,000, said Rep. John Siptroth, D-189, but the wage and timing demands that accompanied the money made it unattractive. Laird refused the state funds and built the levy, which consists of a lake and dike between the plant and Interstate 80, with its own money.

But the company knew this step would not be enough. "It takes a lot more than $1 million to ensure it won't flood," Kinman said.

She said Laird had asked the government to take more aggressive steps to mitigate flooding, though she did not elaborate on exactly what steps the company had wanted.

Pennsylvania has dedicated new money for storm water and flood planning, an inter-agency task force, buyouts, flood proofing and stream and wetland improvements.

But river residents want the state and federal governments to do more — particularly with the reservoirs.

Attention has focused on the three large reservoirs near the river's headwaters that supply New York City with water. All three were full or spilling billions of gallons of water before heavy rainfalls soaked the area during the recent floods.

While this did not, in itself, cause the floods, the impact of the spilling water did play a role. The amount has not been quantified precisely.

The Delaware River Basin Commission, the multi-state agency that manages the river, is devising a computer model showing how rainfall, land conditions and reservoirs affect flooding. That is being done with the help of the U.S. Geographical Survey, Army Corps of Engineers and the National Weather Service. Results will be ready in early 2009.

At the same time, at least one private engineer, Timothy Pryor, using rough calculations on publicly available data, has surmised that the impact of the reservoirs was likely substantial, up to as much as two feet down river. His results are being vetted by peers in the field.

And river residents also await the release of the DRBC's next document, the Flexible Flow Management Program, which sets the rules for managing the river and reservoirs. It was slated to be released last month but has been stalled.

For residents along the river, the answers need to come soon.

The status quo has created economic damage, as Conway has pointed out. Laird is only the most recent example.

"This cannot be the only business that is being impacted along the Delaware River this way," Conway said.

Pocono Record writers Howard Frank and Susan Koomar contributed to this report.